Harrison woke up about 2 hours before he needed to. It might have been the excitement for the new schedule, or just nerves. He didn't really dwell on it for long. Instead, he went to see what Nagani was up to.
He didn't bother changing out of his sleep wear as he walked down the hallway towards his fathers office.
#Hello Harrison#
#Hey Nagani#
#Hatchling does not have to get up yet.#
#I know, I am just excited.#
#Hatchling should come hunting with Nagani.# Harrison wasn't quite sure that was a good idea.
#ok#
Harrison followed the snake, who was now slithering towards the stairs to go outside. He didn't bother commenting on his lack of proper supplies and clothing to go in the woods- he knew she wouldn't care.
Nagani was fast for an animal without legs, and Harrison had to jog to keep up with her after they got outside. It was then when Harrison realized he didn't have shoes on.
#Nagani we have to go back, I forgot my shoes.#
#No. Hatchlings' feet will evolve.#
He wasn't sure that was how evolution worked, but Nagani was not going to accept the argument, so he just sighed and kept on walking. He had run through the woods on the edge of the property many times, but he had never really looked at it before. He found that he liked it.
He walked through the underbrush after Nagani, paying no attention to the leaves and sticks he stepped on.
#Hatchling walks loudly. He will scare away my prey#
Nagani was proven wrong seconds later when a wild pig walked in front of them- about 30 feet away and began eating some grass. Nagani immediately sized it up.
She slowly crept on it- all the while Harrison looked on with a mix of anticipation and regret. The snake was close to it now, and she lunged wrapping her jaws around it, quicker than Harrison would have thought possible.
#How did you do that?#
#I am an invasive species, they do not know defense against me# Nagani had swallowed the pig whole already, and was able to hiss.
#Pigs are also stupid- the anicent eyptians were silly to worship them- they could've done much better.#
#How do you know this?# A snake that knew about invasive species and the ancient egyptians was weird, familiar of a dark lord or not.
#I watch documentaries#
He faltered, shocked.
#I discovered a television in the basement. I watch it when you are off.#
Of course she does.
After more walking, the two arrived back at the manor. Harrison still had about thirty minutes to kill, so he went to see if his father was up. The first place he checked was his office. Which was unsurprisingly also the last place he checked.
"Good morning Father."
Marvolo stood up from behind his desk and strode towards Harrison. The slytherin wrapped an arm around him and kissed him on the head. "You're up early."
His father let go of him and walked past him, to the bookcase on the other side of the room. He picked a book from the shelf and sat back down at his desk.
"I was excited."
"Yes, I can tell you have been up for a while now." Marvolo raised an eyebrow and gave Harrison an amused smile.
He shrugged, a slight flushed coming to his cheeks. "Nagani took me hunting."
"I can see, you have a twig in your hair. Why don't you get changed, we can start exercising earlier and have a nice breakfast after."
"That sounds nice. I'll go now. Meet you outside at the gazebo?"
"Sure."
A few minutes later Harrison was changed and ready to run 3 miles through the woods. Harrison took pride in his running skills and actually enjoyed it.
The run was quick, only about 25 minutes, which Harrison was glad for. His father had instituted a new rule where if he finished a run in 30 minutes or less he could have a few minutes to catch his breath before exercising- which was mostly pushups and climbing.
Needless to say Harrison was tired and sweaty after his hour long run and workout, so he naturally rushed upstairs into the shower. He got out quickly after, drying his hair with his will (He had taught it to himself a while back and found it quite useful).
Harrison put on his nicest pair of dueling robes and basilisk skin boots, he wanted to make a good second impression.
When Harrison arrived in his fathers office, where they would be eating to find his favorite breakfast, huckleberry french toast, waiting for him.
"So what will you be doing today?"
"Mostly work, but I will be stepping into the classes to make sure everything is fine. I trust the Malfoys and Nott, but Severus' loyalties may be compromised, and I value him, both as a friend and follower, which is why I actually wanted you to watch him more this is the time I hope I'm wrong" His father replied.
"I can do that."
"Great. You have him today, with the new schedule."
"What new schedule?"
"I created it last night and left it on your desk."
"I didn't see it."
Marvolo sighed, this was not the first time this had happened. "Don't worry, Nagani probably ate it. You will have longer and more classes, I just split them up into two days, and they will rotate. Here."
Harrison looked at the paper his father gave him.
Period (all 50 minutes)
A day classes
B day classes
1st period
Pureblood etiquette with Lucius
Charms with Lucius
2nd period
Navigating politics and history with Lucius
Wards/Apparation with Nott
3rd period
Ancient Runes and Rituals with Narcissa
Defense with Nott
4th period
Olde English and Latin with Marvolo
Healing with Narcissa
5th period
Magical theory with Narcissa
Non-Magical combat with Marvolo
6th period
Arithmancy with Narcissa
Healing with Narcissa
7th period
Potions with Severus
Transfiguration with Narcissa
8th period
Specialized ability practice with Marvolo
Specialized ability practice with Marvolo
9th period (20 minutes)
Occlumency with Marvolo
Occlumency with Marvolo
"You will have politics, etiquette and runes with Draco, since both his parents have to be at the manor during that time. And A days are for academics, and B days are for practical magics. You also still get off on the weekends and Friday, with the exception of learning meditation and occlumency"
Harrison nodded, waiting to speak until his mouth wasn't full of french toast. "Sounds good to me."
"Good" he paused. "So Harrison, have you been reading anything good lately? I've noticed that you've been in the library more than usual."
"Yes, I just finished a book about ancient languages."
"I'm not familiar."
"Well it talks all about these ancient languages, like Sumerian, Sanskrit, and Ancient Egyptian. It says how they were formed, and how speaking in them enhances or makes your spells worse, and all of the ancient texts that have been lost because the languages are now dead. It even mentioned parseltongue briefly." Harrison spoke quickly, excited.
"Interesting. Sanskrit is something I speak- albeit not much of it."
"After I learn Latin, can you teach me some of what you know?"
"Yes, rest assured, you will be learning many languages. You will need to know how to speak and write in all common European languages, along with Russian, Mandarin, and some of the older cultural or tribal languages which you may need for political use."
"Sounds fun." Harrison was only being partially sarcastic.
"Stop with the sarcasm, I'm sure you'll enjoy it." Harrison deigned not to answer, humming in agreement instead, not wanting to get chewed out for being sarcastic. His father continued. "We still have about an hour until my inner circle arrives for your first class. Would you like to duel? We will go until they arrive, to showcase your skills."
Knowing that it wasn't a request, Harrison replied in the positive.
10 minutes later, he was sweating profusely, all while getting his ass kicked. Yet, Harrison found it enjoyable.
A cutting curse was sent to his shoulder. He sidestepped. His father stood a few yards in front of him. Adrenaline coursed through his body. He charged towards the dark lord. Hexes flew at him rapidly during the short charge. He dodged them. Mid charge he pulled a knife from his boot. He reached his father, fainted left, and slid on his back between his fathers legs. He attempted to slice his leg as he slid. Marvolo saw this coming and jumped. Harrison's momentum carried him further, but he was stopped when his father landed gracefully, and brought down his own knife to Harrison's throat.
He was let go, and stood, painting with exhaustion. "You did better than before, but you are focused on flashy moves. These are not practical. When you have mastered combat, and only then may you include these. Again, but with no weapons or magic."
Harrison groaned, but got into a fighting stance. He watched for a flaw in his fathers stance that he could use against him. As expected, there was none. He had to wait.
It was not long before his father struck a punch. He wasn't quick enough to dodge. It grazed his shoulder. It didn't stop there. Marvolo refused to give him a break, attacking relentlessly. His mind went on autopilot. He dodged a roundhouse kick, then a punch, and another. He had no opportunity to go on the offense.
He saw an opening. While his father was mid-punch, he kneed him in the groin, and dropped to the ground and rolled to avoid a kick. He pops back up and immediately goes on offense. It was a blur of fists and feet. Minutes go by and Harrison is blown back, with magic.
As the wind returns to his lungs he accuses his father. "You cheated!"
"There is no such thing as cheating in battle. You win by any means necessary. Again."
Harrison had figured he'd say that, and was ready. He lashed out with his magic, making it solid and sending it towards his opponent. It clipped his leg. Something was sent towards him and Harrison's own leg was pushed out from under him. He fell to the floor, catching himself and rolling to avoid a knife aimed for his head. He pulled out his swords to meet the one raised above his head, held by Marvolo, who had cornered him while Harrison was dodging. He pushed against it, and simultaneously focused his magic into a bright light, shoving it into the slytherin's face. To his credit, the lord didn't move, but he did let up a bit on his sword. This was enough to allow Harrison to push himself backwards, and pop up. He formed discs with his magic and threw them at Marvolo, distracting him while he recovered his breathing. He only had a second, the discs were destroyed easily.
The back of Harrison's mind registered the entrance of the Malfoy family, but he ignored them in favor of creating small explosions around the room, aimed to confuse Marvolo. He saw through it and sent ropes of raw magic to ensnare him. Harrison deflected them with his swords. They dissipated. Harrison ran towards the back of the room, and threw the sword in his right hand at Marvolo. It missed and stuck in the wall behind him. He switched the remaining sword to his right hand and focused on lifting the objects and dirt around the room, and had them fly around chaotically. He managed to do this while approaching his father for an attack. Marvolo expected this and sent barriers of magic to trap him, which he broke through with difficulty, only to be taken by surprise by a rocking of the floor. He fell and once again had a sword at his neck.
"Never only focus on one obstacle. You must think ahead, why did your opponent do that? You were focused on destroying my barriers, and you left your body open. I took advantage and you swayed in the wind I created."
Harrison nodded in understanding. "I understand." Marvolo gave him a look of approval, then turned to the Malfoys, whose presence he had not yet acknowledged.
"Lucius, Narissa. Classes will be in the library, you may head there now. Leave us for a moment." He paused and waited until the members of his inner circle had left, and turned back to Harrison. "You did well and I am proud of you. Go to your lessons, and if you need me, I am there."
Harrison let a small smile spread across his face. "Love you."
"Love you too."
Harrison gave his father a brief hug, then turned away, and began walking towards the library, schooling his features into something respectable for the protege of the dark lord.
He pushed open the doors to the library, and headed to the back. He ran his fingers along the spines of the books he passed, relishing in the familiar sensation.
The back of the library had a small, circular study that looked over the grounds via a large window. There was a large mahogany table in the center, with similar chairs around it. Comfy chairs were scattered along the walls as well, completing the relaxing feel of the room. On the back wall there was a door that led to what used to be a protected room for the more illegal books. It had since been cleared out (Marvolo didn't bother with hiding his illegal books) and transformed into an empty, ball room like space, which Harrison assumed would be used for learning wards, or other, potentially explosive subjects. Harrison didn't go in, it seemed that this lesson would take place in the alcove where Lucius and Draco were standing.
"Good morning Milord."
"Good morning Lucius."
Harrison watched as the lord's eye twitched, almost imperceptibly. Harrison has expected this. The man was used to respect from everyone, other than Harrison's father. Getting called by his first name by a small boy, even one who Lucius no doubt thought rather highly of (after all the man did watch him duel the most powerful dark lord in history, which he was able to keep up with)- was not something he liked.
"Today we will be playing Chess. Are you familiar?"
"I have heard of it, but not played." Harrison wasn't sure what Chess had to do with learning about politics.
"I will teach it to you, and then you will play Draco."
Harrison looked at the young Malfoy, who had remained silent throughout this exchange.
Lucius wasted no time, and began explaining the logistics of the game. "Chess is a game of strategy. Each piece moves in its own rook moves in a straight line, bishop at a diagonal, the queen both of those. Pawns move one forward, kings move one in any direction, and knights move in a L shape." he continued to go on about the logistics of each piece. "The goal is to capture the king, and you need to be able to think ahead and predict moves.
Harrison starts and moves a pawn one space. Lucius mirrors the move. Harrison moves another pawn, this time 2 spaces forward. Lucius moves his queen. "Checkmate."
Harrison looks down at the board, he was indeed in checkmate. Lucius had won in two moves. "This particular series of moves is called fools mate, it is the quickest way to checkmate someone. Again."
Lucius starts this time, moving his a pawn forward. Harrison brings out his knight. Lucius moves his bishop. Harrison moves another pawn. Lucius brings out his knight. Harrison moves another pawn, so he can let his bishop out and capture it. Lucius takes his rook. Harrison can't do anything about it. The game continues. Later, Harrison finds himself in a fork, Lucius has his knight attacking his king and his rook, and Harrison has no choice but to sacrifice his remaining rook. It only went downhill from there. Harrison had lost again. Then he lost again, and again.
"That will be our last game. From now on, at the beginning of this class you will play one game against myself and one against Draco, and then I will teach you both."
Harrison nodded in approval. "Now, Lucius," Harrison loved using Lucius' name when it wasn't necessary, he really was so easy to toy with. "I believe it's time for etiquette."
"Correct, and since Yule is coming up, which means that there will be many balls, I have decided to teach you the basics of dance to start, and then formal event etiquette."
Lucius walked towards the other room and the boys trailed behind.
"Which dance?" Harrison turned towards the younger Malfoy, who had spoken for the first time today.
"The pureblood Waltz." Harrison was familiar with the waltz; he had picked up a book on dances in the Potter library once after hearing that James and Lily would be getting Quinn lessons. What he did not know, however, was what a 'pureblood' waltz was.
"It is a waltz, only instead of one person leading, and going around the dance floor in the direction they wish, the participants dance in a multi layer circle. The center is one pair, then two around them, and etc. In the middle is the host, then the more important and powerful around them. The closer to the center, the more important you are. It is also used to showcase power, control and connection to your partner, as the dance goes on, with every step a pair will raise into the air, almost like they are dancing up a spiral staircase. Only extremely powerful wizards are capable, so it is not common that it happens with every step, some will rise every 3 count, or 6 count, usually the host."
Lucius is certainly a thorough man, Harrison thought, as he listened to the long winded explanation. The man in question continued. "My Lord, if you would please step forward, and Draco, you as well." Harrison did as was asked, and Draco also stepped forward, and while the older boy looked to his father for further instructions, Harrison studied his face. He had the full lips of his father, and the same silver eyes. He had high cheekbones of the Black family (this he knew from Sirius). His nose was similar to Lucius' (but Harrison thought all noses looked the same- except for Snape's that is). The hair was of course silver, the only difference between his and Lucius' being the length.
"Today you will learn only the actual dance, not the magical component. Milord, if you could put your right hand on Draco's left shoulder blade, and your right hand out to the side, and interlace hands. Draco take your other hand and rest it on Harrison's right shoulder." Harrison was face to face with Draco, and the boy's face was stoic and calm. Harrison respected that, he was face to face with the son of the man who could kill his father in a second. Yet, there was a slight glint of challenge in his eyes- a playful challenge, but a challenge nonetheless.
"Harrison, you can lead, with your right foot step forward and to the side, Draco you follow him and do the opposite, so move your left foot back. Now, Harrison, bring your feet together, and then do the same again, but with your left, this should be on a count of three."
What resulted from these instructions, was not graceful in the slightest, in fact it looked like they were puppets being jerked around by a child. It was, however, correct. Lucius grimaced anyway. "Try again." Harrison saw that challenge in Draco's eyes once again, and was determined to get this right. So this time he mouthed the count. Draco was confused, not understanding what Harrison was mouthing, and so he stepped on the brunette's foot. They tried again, and Draco understood. It went much better. Maybe not graceful yet, but not as bad. Lucius made them continue to dance, and by the end of 50 minutes they could say that they now resembled puppets that were being jerked around by an adult- a slight improvement.
Lucius, who had been observing with the occasional comment- from a chair on the side of the room- stood up. "We will continue to work on that, for now, Narcissa will teach runes."
Harrison gave a slight nod and turned and walked out, the Malfoy men trailing him. Upon opening the door he was greeted by the sight of Narcissa sitting at the table, a book open in front of her, and chalk on the ground next to her. She looked up from where she had been studying her nails and raised a sharp eyebrow, with a pointed look down towards her watch.
Lucius appeared to be cowed in the face of his wife's disapproval, and rushed out of the library.
"Good morning Narcissa."
She smiled at Harrison. "And to you, Milord. Now, please take a piece of chalk and sit down." Harrison did so, and sat opposite her, Draco falling into place beside him. "Ancient runes are very temperamental and volatile. You must be careful and precise. This book in front of me" She paused and turned the book in front of her around to face the two boys. "Illustrates the basics of drawing runes, and what can be done to make your spell stronger or weaker with them. Take a quick look at it now."
Harrison found himself liking Narcissa more and more with every word. She moved fast and wasted no time getting to the point.
He glanced at the book, briefly skimming the contents. Narcissa stopped him a few seconds later. "Now we are going to practice the art of drawing runes. Take the chalk and copy my movements exactly."
She readied her chalk and drew a quick line downward, then upwards in an arch, so it almost looked like the letter 'n'. She went beneath the arch and in a smooth motion, drew the symbol of a wave, then wrapped her line around the bottom and connected it back to the first downwards line. Harrison copied her every movement, though his didn't quite look as good. Neither did Dracos.
Narcissa studied their runes and gave an almost imperceptible frown. "Try again." Down, up in an arch, wave beneath, connected back. She looked again. "Try again." Harrison did, really focusing on keeping his movements smooth and precise. Draco was the opposite. He got sloppy and frustrated. This time, when Narcissa looked, her frown was obvious. "Harrison you are doing well, but you press down too hard and it's too choppy. And Draco, let me show you what it would look like if you cast that rune, when it looked like that. Back up you two."
She started a short chant, and repeated it twice, tracing the rune with her index finger. After the second chant, the outline of the rune glowed and gusts of wind came from it, blowing air into their faces, pushing them onto their butts. A bookcase fell over, and the books on it were picked up and thrown across the room at the three. Narcissa said another chant and everything stopped. They stood up, bewildered. Harrison stared in disbelief at the damage inflicted on the library. "Narcissa! What was that! Look at what you have done!"
She remained calm. "Milord, every rune has an opposite, that was the rune for confusion, I will cast the rune for clear, and the effects will be reversed."
Harrison settled down as she drew another perfect rune and began yet another chant. The room was returned to how it was in two seconds. She looked at Draco. "When drawn correctly, a rune, when cast, should be relatively quick and not affect the caster. Of course that is a basic explanation and it is much more complicated than we will get into at the moment.." She looked at the two of them, and handed them each another piece of chalk. "Try again"
The rest of that class was spent in relative silence, only Narcissa giving feedback on their rune drawing skills.
"We are finished now, Draco follows me, and Milord, I will see you later today." Harrison just nodded. As soon as she left the library, his father seemingly materialized next to him. Harrison yelped, to the man's amusement. "Didn't really think I'd leave you unprotected did you?" He chucked. "Narcissa certainly is an efficient teacher."
Harrison nodded vigorously in agreement. "I think I will learn a lot from her."
"You probably will. Are you ready for your Latin lessons?"
Harrison groaned in answer. Luckily for him the class felt short and he went down to lunch after what felt like 10 minutes.
The dining room was right under the library, so he had been able to smell the elves cooking while working, and when he got down he immediately began feasting on the meal of tomato soup, grilled cheese, and assorted fruits and vegetables- much to his fathers disapproval.
"Harrison, you look like a caveman."
"Sorry" He mumbled, food in his mouth. His father just rolled his eyes.
They ate in silence for a bit. "What did you think of Draco?"
"I liked him, he was competitive during the dance, I thought it was fun."
"I'm glad, you'll be seeing a lot of him. We can continue this later." He looked down at his watch. "You have Magical Theory next."
"ok."
Harrison walked back up to the library and took a seat. Narcissa wasn't here yet, but she still had a few moments. He busied himself with further reading the runes book that had been left on the table.
Runes were actually closer to being written spells than he thought, they were almost like a language, contrary to what he had thought, which was that they were symbols that held power. They could be wielded by anyone really, but the power of the user definitely was important. Apparently they were almost sentient, and they decided whether they would comply with your wishes based off of your magical core. Those were the runes you drew, but there is another type, where a rune is carved into a crystal of some sort, and those were wielded kind of like spells, but they had more freedom.
Harrison was jolted out of his thoughts by Narcissa. "How was your lunch Milord?"
"It was good."
She hummed. "Well how much do you know about magical theory?"
"Absolutely nothing."
"Well I will start with the basics then." She paused and gestured for him to get out a notebook. "Everyone has a magical core. It's not a ball of light in your stomach as you might believe, but it is a constant flow of pure magic that courses through your body and aids it. This is why wizards and witches live longer and heal quicker. It is wild and untamed, which is why most use their wands to direct it in a very specific way, so it won't go awry."
Harrison perked up, interested. "What do you mean most?"
Narcissa gave a small smile, glad he was interested. "Some wizards have tamed their magical core and can control it directly. They move it towards their wounds, and they can use it outside of their body. It gives them more power, they don't need to rely on wands and they have a much more broad arsenal. They still need wands for things like the unforgivables, and a patronus, and potions and transfiguration."
"Who mastered it?"
"People like Grindelwald, Dumbledore, Merlin and your father, who all have incredibly vast cores and the determination to spend time towards it."
"How come they still have to use wands for some things?"
"Wands aid it, and if you want to, for example, turn a peach into a pencil, you need a wand because that is incredibly specific. Raw magic use, which is what it's called, requires the user to aim their core magic towards something and focus on what you want it to do. It can't change things, but think of it as a helper. It can manifest itself as a wind to lift something up, or a blast to hit someone."
"I think I get it."
"Now that we are on the topic of transfiguration, you should know that all types of magic are different. Transfiguration is the most different, and it is very similar to apparition."
Harrison was visibly surprised by this.
"Transfiguration and apparition both only work because this world has multiple planes of existence. The muggle plane and Wizard plane are the same, but they weren't always like that, which is why Wizards have cores. For transfiguration, you aren't changing the anatomical structure of something, that's impossible. You are simply switching something from the other plane to here, and sending over the other object. We don't know much about the other plane, but we assume that it is a mirror of this,with everything that will ever exist and has ever existed, with no humans."
"Then why can't you transfigure a building or something?"
"When you transfigure something, you create a small tear in the dimensional fabric and summon something through. The universe is constantly fighting against you to close it. It is possible in theory, but the sheer amount of power you would have to have would be impossible."
"Then what about animagi?"
"Animagi are a completely different subject from transfiguration. But back to apparition. It is a way of traveling through the small space between the planes. This requires no effort to get in or out, unlike going completely through, and when you go in, you can control where you come out. It is so quick that you don't even realize that you are going between planes."
As Harrison took all of this in, he quickly realized that this was his favorite class. He also realized, with a quick look at the clock, that it was over.
Narcissa knew this as well. "Time for arithmancy."
"Yay" Harrison mumbled sarcastically.
But, 50 tortuous minutes later it was over and it was time for potions. He left the library with Narcissa in tow, but turned down the stairs towards the potions lab. Harrison understood the necessity for potion labs to be underground, keeping the ingredients stable and all that, but he still hated the draftiness that came with the lower levels of the manor.
He walked into the lab, with Snape already there, waiting for him. "Good afternoon milord."
"Good afternoon Severus."
Harrison took a seat at a cauldron across from the man, and leaned forward, excited to be learning from the best potions master of the century.
"I thought today's time would be best used as an assessment of your natural potions abilities. You will be making a potion with no guidance, and I will only intervene if you look as if you may do something dangerous."
Harrison was a bit disappointed, but he understood the reason behind the lesson. "Which potion should I be making and what are the ingredients?"
Severus looked surprised, Harrison supposed he wasn't used to being respected. "You will be making a rather simple hair color changing potion, the ingredients are behind you on the table."
Sure enough, there were potions ingredients behind him. Harrison had read up on potions in detail, and was fairly sure that he would be able to make the potion.
Since the potion would need to be a paste that could be applied onto the hair, it would need to have a thickener, and would need to be able to be touched with your hands.
He started by adding water to the cauldron, about ¾ full, because some would evaporate. He set the burner below it on the highest setting, hoping to get the water to a boil, to neutralize the acid of the dye, so the color would stay, but the itchy scalp that usually accompanied them would be gone.
While waiting for the water to reach the desired temperature, Harrison began to prepare his ingredients. When it reached a boil, Harrison put in the dye first, trying to give it the most amount of time to neutralize the acid.
He stirred counterclockwise once, then clockwise once. While stirring, he added in his second ingredient, slug slime. That would serve as the thickener. He stirred it for 3 minutes. Next up was the crushed eyes of Newt. This was a bonding agent for the slug slime and dye. He stirred that until the water had evaporated. Then, on impulse, he ripped a hair out of his head and coated it in liquid aluminum that he found in the storage room. He let that dry while he added liquid oxidized silver and stirred it in with more crushed Newt eyes. He then stirred in the hair.
He had no idea if this would work, but the oxidized silver should attach itself to the aluminum hair, which means the dye would attach to the hair, since they are combined. This could maybe 'train' the potion to stick to hair only, because it would almost 'associate' aluminum with hair, and since chemistry makes it so it would stick to aluminum it might stick to hair. It was a shot in the dark but Harrison wanted to try it.
He explained this to Severus when he asked. The man was visibly intrigued and impressed. "How do you know this?"
"It's muggle chemistry, I learned it in a book once. I figured, with magic this might work."
"I think that it might. You have a lot of natural talent, I can start teaching you at a much higher level than I thought."
Harrison grinned internally, and peered down at the potion nervously, it was changing to its final color, and this was when we would see if it would work.
Severus looked at it with approval. "It looks perfect, but we will test it on a wig I bought."
He layered it on the head, and had no dye stick to his fingers, and instead it gravitated towards the hair. Harrison studied the head once it was applied, there was no redness or irritation (the wig was spelled to react like a human scalp). Harrison hid his excitement, and Severus seemed to be doing the same.
Harrison explained his idea of neutralizing the dye's acid, and the man looked even more impressed.
"I would like to sell this, I believe it would make a lot of money, and we would split profits."
The man had switched back into business mode, but Harrison was so excited he didn't care (though he didn't let it show). He forced his voice to be level. "Yes, I think that's a good idea. You will handle all of it from here."
"I agree, I will draft a contract and gather clients and update you during the next lesson." With that, the man swept out of the room, and Harrison let a giant grin spread across his face and let himself bask in it before heading upstairs as well.
He went up to the dueling room to meet his father for his last two lessons for the day. "What are you so excited about?" His father asked as soon as he walked in.
Harrison told him about potions lessons, and he beamed, proud. "I'm proud."
Harrison blushed. "Thanks"
"Ready to sense spells?"
Harrison grimaced, not looking forward to being shot with spells. But he readied himself and immersed himself in his surroundings. He put on a blindfold and took a deep breath.
He immediately felt a powerful tingling on his left shoulder blade. He instinctively stepped to the right and saw red pass him through the blindfold. He ripped it off in shock, this was the first time he had felt it that strong and concentrated.
"Did you aim for my left shoulder blade?"
The dark lord grinned. "Yes I did."
Harrison put his blindfold back on, thrilled. He dodged a curse to the torso, right leg, left wrist, skull, hip and spine. The tingling felt different each time.
"What were the most dangerous spells you threw going towards?"
"The hip and wrist." This confirmed Harrison's thought.
"I think the tingling I feel reflects the danger of the spell. It almost hurt when you cast the one at my torso. Could you try and cast a healing spell or something?"
"Sure. Episkey."
Sure enough, Harrison felt warmth in his hand, where the spell was directed.
They kept practicing and Harrison could tell the difference between a hex, charm, and curse by the end of the lesson. He was proud of himself, he had made lots of progress today. His father voiced this to him too, before switching right over to his occlumency lesson.
"For occlumency today we are going to practice mediation."
Harrison was fine with that, he was exhausted from his long day.
He focused on clearing his mind, and was rather successful.
"Until you are able to make your mind completely blank, you cannot begin to learn to shield your mind."
"Ok, I'll work on it."
"Good." His father paused and looked at his exhausted body and took pity on him. "Do you want to have dinner in your room, and go to bed?"
Harrison nodded, relieved. "Thank you father. Goodnight."
The man looked amused at his relief. "Goodnight Harrison." Harrison got up and walked out the door to his room, pasta salad already waiting for him.
He gobbled it down and immediately fell asleep, barely managing to put down his plate first.